The first quarter of 2026 was defined by a severe market "yo-yo" effect. A strong rally in January and February—driven by AI optimism and expectations of rate cuts—was abruptly reversed in March by a massive geopolitical and energy shock, leaving most major global indices lower for the quarter. This had an impact on Spirit Invest's earnings and cashflows as forecasts had to be re-run almost every time President Trump sent out a Tweet! One word, “volatility” would summarise the first quarter for Spirit Invest, but with the strength and growth we have experienced the last five years, we navigated these times well. 

Q1 of every year always marks the busiest time for the Finance Team, even busier than President Trump’s Truth Social account. The team has been relentlessly busy with Spirit Invest’s Annual Audit during Q1 of the year. All our FSP Companies are required to submit their annual financial statements to the FSCA by the end of April as per their regulations. I am very pleased to report that we have received a “clean bill of health” on all our FSP Companies, (nine in total!). A special thank you goes to Leo for managing the annual process very successfully. Hard work and overtime were also put in by Liezl, Johan and Oscar to promptly deal with all the audit queries as they arose.

From a Spirit Invest 2026 perspective it has been a satisfying first quarter, with all companies achieving their budgeted numbers as well as the important Key Financial Indicators of each company to ensure each company is on track to achieve the goals for the year ahead.

Throughout the first quarter, Finance has continued to support Spirit Invest in various financial aspects where required. With our increased spend on social responsibility, a large part of our time went into ensuring our various Foundations are well supported and systems are in place to ensure long term sustainability.

To end off, I want to remind everyone that the Springboks reign as World Champions is now 2,756 days.